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Ford keeps trash deal under wraps

Call it illegitimate, irrational, ideological – they all fit.

The Ford admin’s plan to privatize garbage for 165,000 households west of Yonge, a draft version of which was released Monday (April 18), has all the makings of a juicy scandal waiting to happen.

Yup, Ford keeps breaking the rules. The guy who rode in on the promise to clean up the “garbage” at City Hall now wants to award a $250 million contract to privatize waste pickup without a vote of council.

Instead, the Bid Committee, a group stuffed with bureaucrats directly under Ford’s command, will have the final decision on who gets the lucrative gig. So your duly elected reps, ladies and germs, won’t even see the ink, never mind the fine print, on this whopper of a deal that no doubt will be chock full of incentives – and financial risks – for which taxpayers will pick up the tab. That’s been the experience of other jurisdictions that have privatized. But I digress.

The fact that our elected reps won’t be involved in this decision is outrageous, of course. More importantly, it also leaves a lot of room for political arm-twisting behind the scenes, if you know what I mean. And Fordo likes to throw his political weight around when it comes to getting the public service to bend to his whims. It’s his way or the highway.

But it gets worse, dear dutiful Ford fans. I’m speaking to you directly here because I know that many of you are concerned about holding politicians accountable. The job of deciding on any future extension of the contract will fall to one person: the general manager of works. You read that right.

Perhaps this would be a good time to write the mayor to remind him of Madam Justice Bellamy’s findings in the MFP computer leasing scandal as it relates to the city’s tendering process. Or what happened last time the city tried to cut a garbage deal without a vote of council. That was during the great debate on whether to send our garbage to the Adams Mine in Kirkland Lake. We almost got stuck with an unlimited liability clause in that contract before it was killed.

The official rationale for fast-tracking this contract: the mayor wants to get on with the job of saving taxpayers money – a whole $8 million, according to the city’s calculations – by the next budget cycle and before the current contract with city workers expires December 31.

Denzil Minnan-Wong, the chair of public works, figures the voting public has no problem with Ford et al. circumventing the rules in this case because, well, garbage privatization was part of Ford’s election platform.

By which I think the councillor means “respect for taxpayers.” Funny that, cuz from what we know about private garbage contracts in other jurisdictions, this one may end up costing more than it’s supposed to save taxpayers.

The Fordists are already messing with the numbers on potential savings, claiming that most of the 300 workers who’ll be affected by the plan won’t have to be re-assigned under the terms of the existing collective agreement because they’re temporary employees. They’re wrong about that.

We’ve also been given different numbers on savings by the so-called experts who’ve reviewed the data. The Toronto Board of Trade says $114 mil the C.D. Howe Institute $49 million and now the city saying $8 million.

Garbage contracts are highly technical documents. Hidden costs may be high. How will complaints be handled, for example? Will they be left up to the city, or to the company that’s hired? Who’ll be in charge of monitoring? Or will their be any monitoring at all? Will the contractor chosen be required to abide by the city’s Fair Wage Policy?

The deal being contemplated by the city is for up to nine years. Most garbage contracts signed by other cities and the private sector are half that long – and for good reason. No one wants to be stuck in a deal they can’t get out from under when the contractors start jacking up their fees, as they invariably do.

Only a handful of companies have the infrastructure and equipment to deliver the goods on a private garbage contract of the size being contemplated for Toronto. So it’s not like the city will get dozens of bids from which to choose. The prices competitors will be coming in with will be in the same ballpark. Those in the garbage game don’t tend to undercut each other. In fact, they’ve been accused of collusion in the past.

Whatever deal the city cuts, experience with privatization suggests that while there may be short-term savings in contracting out, in the long run publicly delivered services deliver more bang for the buck. The stats prove it. Toronto’s per ton costs of picking up waste are 30 per cent lower than the Ontario average.

It’s not just a coincidence that the part of the city already under private contract, District 1 in Etobicoke, also happens to have the next-highest number of complaints (7,219 last year) of the four garbage districts, and the area about to be privatized has the lowest incidence of complaints.

Certainly, the trend in the U.S., from which the Ford administration takes most of its cues, is toward bringing contracted-out services like garbage back in-house. Research shows that a mix of private and public service delivery is the most cost-effective formula. A little more than half of the city’s waste services are privatized now.

But those in charge at City Hall aren’t interested in the facts. The decision to privatize is based on ideology, not good business sense, unfortunately.

What’s the mayor got to hide? This one’s not passing the smell test.

enzom@nowtoronto.com

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